
Class _MAM_ 

Book W 2.S 

Copyright N?. 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



Wbat of tbe Cbutcb ? 



Mbat of tbe Cburcb ? 



3, Sberman Wallace, flll.H., B*S>* 

professor in tinclfllinnviUe College 



IPbtiaDelpbta 

£be (Briffttb & IRowlant) press 

3Bo0ton Cbicago St* 3Loute 
Toronto, Can* 






Copyright 1911 by 
A. J. ROWLAND, Secretary 



Published August, 1911 









©CLA285817 



Belong where you are, 
And be where you belong. 



Contents 

J- Page 

What do you Think of the Church ?. . . 9 

II 
A Church Wedding 29 

III 
A Church Family 47 

IV 
The Problem of the Church 59 

V 

The Opportunity of the Church 75 

VI 
The Mission of the Church. 89 

VII 
The Hope of the Church 105 



Wbat oo sou Gbtnfc of tbe Gburcb ? 




HAT do you think of the church? 
What is its place in modern civiliza- 
tion and life? What does the church 
mean to us men of to-day, and what should be our 
attitude toward it ? No questions are greater than 
these. Upon their answer depends in large meas- 
ure the future of civilization. Jesus said, " I 
will build my church ; and the gates of hades shall 
not prevail against it." Did he speak as a fanatic, 
or did he understand the fundamental needs of 
human life? 

This is the great age of investigation and criti- 
cism. The search-light has been turned upon 
every existing institution, and it is now resting 
upon the church. Men are asking, " Of what 
use is the organized church to the world, and 
what ought to be my attitude toward it? Is it 
more than any other society, and has it for me a 
more imperative call ? " 

To answer these questions intelligently one 
must go back and find 

[»] 



[i2] Wbat of tbe Gburcb? 



What the Church did in the Early Years of its 
History. 

No other story is so romantic nor so interesting 
as that of the growth of the church through those 
first few centuries. Organized by the hands of 
Jesus and his apostles, it was launched into a hos- 
tile world. Against it were arrayed all the 
powers of fanatical Judaism and imperial Rome. 
Its members were hunted like wild beasts, and 
subjected to every torture and death which fiend- 
ish minds could invent. Within three centuries 
this church conquered the world. It came into 
a world where infants were exposed to die. 1 It 
gathered around it those infants, and built for 
them homes and schools, and created for the little 
child the warmest place in the bosom of the 
home. It came into a world reeking with slavery. 
A favorite slave spilled a goblet of wine on the 

1 If children were born of a marriage, the parents did not recog- 
nize it as a duty and a joy to train them up and form them 
for virtue, but to their own and the children's injury, left them to 
the training and management of slaves. To be blessed with chil- 
dren was no pleasure, but a burden ; and hence people did not 
shrink from _ infanticide, or at least from the exposure and abandon- 
ment of their offspring. Even Augustus commanded that the child 
which his granddaughter Julia bore after her banishment should be 
taken from her and exposed. This was often done in the hope that 
passers-by would save the child and bring it up. But if so, what 
was its lot? The boy was commonly trained as a gladiator; the girl 
brought up to be a prostitute. Among the higher orders worse 
things than the exposure of children were done. — "In the Time of 
Jesus/* by Martin Seidel. English translation. A. D. F. Randolph 
Company. 



Wbat fro BOttZEbtnft of tbe Cburcb? [13] 

robe of his Roman master, and was beheaded for 
it to the unfeigned delight of the assembled 
guests. 2 The church thundered no anathemas 
against slavery, but it called the master and slave 
to sit side by side at the Lord's Table, and the 
shackles of the slave fell off. It came into a 
world where thousands of spectators feasted their 
eyes upon the battles of the arena. One day when 
one thousand four hundred gladiators were slain 
amid the shoutings of eighty thousand spectators, 
a young man, a member of the new church of 
Jesus Christ, leaped out upon the bloody sands of 
the amphitheater, and pointing his finger at the 
face of the emperor, condemned him and the 
eighty thousand people with him as murderers. 
He paid for his heroism with his life, but from 
that day to this the world has not seen a gladia- 
torial show. The church came into the world 
where the streets of the city, and the mountains 
and deserts, were filled with the lame, and the 
blind, and the leper, and the insane, left to wan- 

2 They were bought or sold, pledged or exchanged, given away 
or inherited; were according to necessity or convenience destined 
to handicrafts or trades; for gladiatorial combats or for the brothel; 
or, indeed, even to be doorkeepers, chained like watch dogs. People 
punished them at their own pleasure, and often murdered them upon 
the smallest pretext. The aged were exposed or driven away, with 
entire unconcern about what became of them; or slain as^ it they 
were cattle. Nobody could interfere with the master in doing this, 
and nobody called him to account for it. " Against slaves all is 
lawful," was a principle of Roman law. — " In the Time of Jesus,'' 
Seidel. 



[i4] Mbat of tbe CburcbT 

der alone and to starve. The church, remember- 
ing the kindness of its Master, built the first 
hospital and asylum, and gathered into them the 
unfortunate of earth's children. 

The church came into the world where homes 
were but brothels, and faithfulness to the mar- 
riage vow was considered a disgrace; where a 
man was not eligible to society until he was 
known to bear dishonorable relations with other 
men's wives ; where wives considered motherhood 
a dishonor; where married women of high 
families had their names enrolled upon the police 
records as women of unchaste character merely 
for the honor and popularity it would bring to 
them. 3 Into such a society as this the church 
came, proclaiming the sacredness of marriage 
and the holiness of the home. By precept and 
example, it held high the ideal of chastity and vir- 
tue. It gathered each household around a com- 

3 Pliny (" National History ") affirms that since the censorship 
of Mesalla and Cassius, modesty had ceased to exist at Rome; and 
Horace (" Ode,'* III, 6) tells us that womanly virtue was no longer 
to be found. Tacitus (" Germania," C, 9) praises Germany in con- 
trast with Rome, because there nobody laughed at vice, and seduc- 
tion was not the fashion of the time. Fidelity in wedlock was 
scoffed at; and Seneca (" De Beneficiis," I, IX) relates that in- 
trigues and seductions were prevalent customs. He who had not 
distinguished himself by a love affair, and stood in no dishonorable 
relation with another man's wife, was treated with contempt by 
women, and regarded as an effeminate person. Indeed, things be- 
came so bad that married ladies of high rank had their names in- 
serted in the police register as women of a certain character, in 
order that they might give themselves up to unbridled debauchery. 
(Cf. Tacitus, "Annals," II, 85.)— SWde/. 



TOUbat So gou Ubtnft ot tbe Cburcb? [15] 

mon table to the family meal, a thing unknown 
until this day outside Christian peoples. It trans- 
formed the social life of the world. Within three 
centuries the empire that despised the church 
rang with its praise. The rich man and the sol- 
dier, the musician and the artist, vied with each 
other in doing honor to the church they had 
scorned. Great and beautiful buildings were 
erected, that in time became the storehouses of art 
and literature. It is true that the new popularity, 
wealth, and power of the church became its ruin. 
Offices never intended by its divine Founder were 
created, and men intrigued and poisoned and 
murdered for a place in the pope's chair. But 
not long did the church walk in darkness. Soon 
the clouds were broken, and the Light of the 
World shone forth with a new splendor and a 
new glory, and we still walk in that light. 

This is the story of the early church. Do we 
need such a church to-day? We have not those 
evils now. Why have we not? 

What does Our Age owe to the Church ? 

Our age is preeminently an age of investiga- 
tion, an age of knowledge, an age of the educa- 



[16] Wbat of tbe Cburcb ? 

tion of the people. Why did men begin the study 
of modern philosophy? Inspired by the church 
to find the true relation between the world and its 
Creator. Why did men devote their lives to the 
study of modern science ? Inspired by the church 
to find God in every part of his world. Why 
have men given their lives to invention? In- 
spired by the church to alleviate the burdens of 
men. Why has the world been flooded with 
books upon ethics and sociology, why have the 
people read them with unabating interest? In- 
spired by the church to find the true relation be- 
tween man and man, and between man and God. 
Why have we been born into a civilization where 
moral virtue is the ideal and pure homes are 
honored? Because of the influence and teaching 
through the centuries of the Christian church. 

There are men who say that a decent life is 
sufficient, and honesty between man and man is 
enough. They forget that but for the influence 
of the church in the world we would know noth- 
ing of decency and honesty. The civilizations of 
India and China are older than ours, but the 
masses there know nothing of decency and 
honesty. If you are sick or are injured, you go 
to the hospital where you are cared for, you do 



TOlbat fro gcmZEblnft of tbe Cbutcb? [17] 

not go to the church. The world never knew a 
hospital until it was built by the Christian church. 
If your friend is insane, you place him in the 
asylum where he can be cared for and treated. 
There never was an asylum known to men until 
it was built by the Christian church. If a man 
is unfortunate, and has neither money nor friends, 
he finds a home waiting where he may enjoy 
every comfort and every privilege. An alms- 
house was unknown until it was built by the 
Christian church. Thousands to-day find socia- 
bility and friendship in the lodge. The principle 
of brotherhood was laughed at when first taught 
by the Christian church. We rejoice in the wave 
of reform that has swept over the social and polit- 
ical world. This reform was born in the Christian 
church. Reforms, and morals, and intelligence 
cannot live divorced from the Christian church. 
If you knew of one large city in our own country 
without one Christian church, would you go with 
your boys and your girls to live in that city? 
How much would you pay for a corner lot in the 
residence section for your own use? Our own 
people, educated, trained for centuries, unrivaled 
in intelligence, separated from the influence of 
the Christian church are the most immoral and 



[is] Mbat of tbe Cbmrcbl 

debauched people on the face of the earth. The 
white people who go to the heathen lands for 
business purposes usually outrival the natives 
themselves in immorality and sin. 

What do you think of the church ? The world 
was transformed by the early church ; the debt of 
our own age to the church cannot be measured; 
but the question of supreme interest to us is 

What is the Church Doing in the World to-day? 

The church to-day is the mother of nearly all 
our institutions of higher learning. It is the in- 
spiration of the intellectual life of the world. 
Eighty-seven per cent of the financial supporters 
of colleges in our land are members of the Chris- 
tian church. More than one-half of the students 
in the institutions of higher learning, of what- 
ever kind, in the United States are members of 
the Christian church. This proves two things: 
the church inspires its young for intellectual at- 
tainment, and it is the people in our land who 
think that are Christians. Do not forget that in 
general terms it is the uneducated classes who 
neglect the church. 

The church is the teacher of morals in the 



TOflbat fro gouZTbtnft ot tbe Cbtitcb? [19] 

world to-day. The life of the church is the stand- 
ard of the world's morality. The church is living 
upon a higher plane; its members are living 
cleaner lives than ever before in history. It is 
easy to talk about hypocrites in the church; it is 
not so easy to find a real one. Did you ever know 
one personally whom you knew was consciously 
and wilfully pretending to be what he knew he 
was not? I have known many Christians who 
were not perfect; an intelligent Christian never 
claims to be perfect. I have never known an in- 
dividual who was perfect in any profession, have 
you? There are fakes in every other profession, 
and without doubt there are fake Christians ; for 
to be a Christian in this world is something worth 
pretending if one has not the courage to be the 
real thing. But because you have been cheated by 
one counterfeit dollar, do you refuse all money? 
Because you have known one doctor who was a 
quack, do you refuse all medicine ? The medicine 
was always right, only the doctor was wrong. 
Because you have known one public officer who 
was a grafter, do you reject all government? 
Because one singer made a discord, have you shut 
your ears to music? The life of the church is far 
from perfect, but it sets the standard of the moral 



[2o] Wbat of tbe Cbutcb? 

life in every civilized community of the world to- 
day. 

The thoughtless say there is no difference in the 
outward life of the church and the life of the 
world. They forget that the church has not 
lowered its standard, but has forced the world to 
a plane of life so high that the contrast has 
largely disappeared among respectable people. It 
is a large part of the mission of the church to 
establish justice, and righteousness, and decency 
among all men everywhere. Its very success has 
made some regard it a failure. There are men 
who, raised to a high moral plane of outward liv- 
ing, ignorant of the source of the influence that 
has made them what they are, despise and rend 
the helping, lifting hand of the church. 

The church is leading to-day in every reform 
movement. Roosevelt, the hero of reform, is a 
member of the church, and has declared in a pub- 
lic address that he cannot understand any Ameri- 
can citizen who has the faintest feeling of patriot- 
ism and devotion to his country, failing to appre- 
ciate the absolute need of religion to the welfare 
of this country. We might call the roll of the 
nation's men, who have stood and stand above the 
masses — Folk, Hughes, Weaver, Low, Fagin, 



TObat fro gou TTblnft of tbe Cbutcb? [21] 

Fairbanks, Bristow, Bryan, and on through the 
whole list of them — who are leading in the fight 
for national righteousness, and we would find 
that every one of them is a member of the Chris- 
tian church. 

The church of Christ to-day is the great 
leveler of society. It declares there are no moun- 
taintops and no valleys in human life, but all men 
are free and equal, and are brothers. It bids the 
employer remember that his employees are his 
brothers. It bids the employee remember that his 
employer has equal rights with himself. It brings 
the rich and the poor to sit together in the same 
pew, uniting their voices in the same psalm and 
prayer, and singing together from the same book. 
The claim of the agitator that the church is allied 
with the wealthy class is false. Seventy-five out 
of every one hundred members of the Christian 
church in America to-day belong to the laboring 
class. The average salary of the Christian minis- 
ter in the United States to-day is about six hun- 
dred dollars — less than the average salary of the 
skilled mechanic. These ministers are better 
educated, live a higher type of moral life, pro- 
vide for and educate their families better, and 
work more hours in the day than any other class 



[22] Mbat of tbe Cburcb ? 

of men on earth. Go follow any faithful pastor 
through an average day or week of his life, and 
know the truth of these statements. 

The lodge, we are told, is the rival of the 
church. You cannot find one good thing in any 
lodge that has not been copied from and cannot 
be found to-day in the Christian church. We are 
told that the Young Men's Christian Association 
is taking the place of the church. God is blessing 
the Young Men's Christian Association, and it is 
doing a noble work, but a Young Men's Christian 
Association cannot be found in the whole world 
that can show the same results in proportion to 
the money expended the Christian church can. 
The Young Men's Christian Association is only 
an agent, a helper, a feeder of the Christian 
church. It is conducted and supported by the 
Christian church. You cannot become a voting 
member of the Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion until you are a member of the Christian 
church. 

The church is doing more for missions to-day 
than ever before. It is lifting itself by lifting the 
world around it. Missionaries of the Christian 
church opened India, and China, and Japan to the 
commerce of the world. Missionaries of the 



TKHbat fro gem Ubtnft ot tbe Cbutcb? [23] 

Christian church explored Africa. Missionaries 
of the Christian church saved the whole North- 
west to the United States. Wherever the church 
has gone darkness has given place to light. 
Years ago Captain Cook was cruising among the 
South Sea Islands. Anchoring near an island he 
permitted his men to go ashore. Suddenly the 
natives rushed down upon them, and before they 
could regain their boats one of their number had 
been captured. Being unarmed, the men were 
compelled to sit in their boats helpless, while those 
natives killed and ate their comrade before their 
eyes. Twenty years later Cook was again cruis- 
ing in this same part of the sea, when he was 
overtaken by a storm and his vessel wrecked. For 
days they drifted upon the waves until they were 
driven upon this same shore. When Cook recog- 
nized the same island where his comrade had 
been eaten twenty years before, he urged his men 
to use all their strength to keep the boat out to 
sea, but in spite of their efforts they were driven 
upon the rocks. Crouching for fear in the foli- 
age, and keeping a sharp watch for savages, they 
sent one of the men up to the top of a little hill to 
spy out the land. Cautiously he went forward 
until he reached the top and looked over. Down 



[24] Mbat of tbe Cburcb? 

there in the valley, amid a little clump of trees, 
he saw the white finger of a spire. With a great 
joy he turned and began waving his arms, and 
shouting to his companions, " Come on, come on ; 
it's all right; there's a church over here!" 4 
Why? 

The church is the one great force in the world 
that brings men into touch with God, and nur- 
tures the spiritual or the divine life in men. Not 
that the church can give that life itself, but it 
brings men face to face with God through Jesus 
Christ, and they come to know him for them- 
selves and to become like him. Being led by the 
church to find God, they clasp hands with him, 
and God lives in them and they live in God. Mil- 
lions of men whose word you would never doubt 
in regard to any other matter, will tell you they 
have learned by personal experience that no man 
can know life at its best until he lives it in union 
with God. 

Never before was the church doing so much as 
it is to-day. Never before were so many men in 
the church. Never before were so many men at- 

4 1 have never seen this story in print. I first heard it related 
by Evangelist Geo. Robert Cairns. He says of it: "It was given to 
me by a little book of missionary illustrations, owned by a friend 
in Staley Bridge, England. I am sure that it is authentic. I have 
been exceedingly careful in the gathering of illustrations." 



TObat bo gou TEbinft of tbe Gburcb ? [25] 

tending church services. " Why do not men go 
to church? ,; The best answer is, " They do." 

What do you think of the church ? What 
ought to be your attitude toward the church? 
Are you a patriot? You can best serve your 
country by being a faithful member of that insti- 
tution that has made our country what it is — the 
Christian church. Do you believe in a moral 
life? You can best inculcate morality by being a 
faithful member of the organization that sets the 
standard of the world's morality — the Christian 
church. Do you believe in social order? You 
can best help your own community by being a 
faithful member of the conserving power of every 
civilized community — the Christian church. Are 
you grateful to Christ for his transformation of 
the world ? You can best show your appreciation 
by being a vital part of the church for which 
he poured out his life. Do you wish to honor 
God ? You can do it best in the way which he has 
appointed. Have you an ambition to do things 
that count, and to serve the world in which you 
live? You can do it best by working hand in 
hand with the greatest force for righteousness the 
world has ever known — the Christian church. 

Do not say you do not need the church; that 



[26] Mbat ot tbe Cburcb? 

you can be a Christian outside the church. Would 
you have ever been a Christian if it had not been 
for the church? Could you live the best Chris- 
tian life to-day in a community where there was 
no church? You need it. The world needs it. 
But if you refused to be a member of the Christian 
church just because you did not need it person- 
ally, just because it could not help you, you would 
lack the first principle of Christian character and 
conduct. The supreme motive of the Christian 
life is not to get but to give; not to be helped but 
to help. Why did Paul join the church? Did he 
need it? Yes; but much more did the church 
need him in its work for others. Why was Jesus 
himself baptized ? Did he need the church in his 
own life and character? No; but the church 
which he had already begun to organize through 
John, his herald, needed him. Why does the 
foreigner become a citizen ? Not only because he 
needs the nation but the nation needs him. Why 
does the soldier join the army and wear the uni- 
form? Why does he not take his musket and go 
to war on his own responsibility? Why does he 
not fight the enemy in his own way ? Because for 
effective service he needs the army and the army 
needs him. The church asks no favors. It wants 



Mbat fro gem TLbink ot tbe Cbutcb? [27] 

every man to come to its services that it may help 
him, and that it may help him to help others. 
Money cannot help the church as a church. It asks 
no help for itself, and in itself cannot be helped. 
The church is a company of men and women 
banded together to help others. It has no exist- 
ence apart from those individuals. It pays no 
cash dividends to its members. It asks help only 
in its efforts to serve the world in its own genera- 
tion. 

What do you think of the church? Is it 
worthy your support, your strength, your life? 



H Cburcb TMHetfotna 




II 



HE institution of marriage and the re- 
lationship of wedded life, the closest 
and most sacred tie known to men, is 
used in the Bible often as a symbol of the rela- 
tion between God and his people. The picture of 
God as the bridegroom and his people as the 
bride, and of Christ as the bridegroom and his 
own ransomed church as the bride, are familiar 
pictures. But the Prophet Isaiah, as he looked 
away into the future, the future in which we now 
live, held up a different picture. " As a young 
man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry 
thee." He is singing of the future glories of 
Zion, that which represented to him God among 
men. Zion was the Old Testament church, the 
place where God was supposed to dwell as he 
dwells to-day, in the living church. Isaiah thinks 
of the church as the holy city rebuilt, something 
distinct from the people that dwell in it. The 
new city is the bride and her sons are the bride- 
groom. If we should doubt that the prophet 

[3i] 



[32] wbat ot tbe Ctmtcb? 

looked far enough to see the Christian church, 
we will admit that the church redeemed by the 
blood of our Saviour ought to be as precious to 
us as the ancient city was to those who dwelt 
within its walls. Because the Christ loves the 
church as the bridegroom loves his bride ; because 
he gave himself for it that he might sanctify it, 
and cleanse it, and present it to himself at last a 
glorious church without spot or wrinkle, holy 
and without blemish; surely it ought to be dear 
to those who compose it, even as a bride becomes 
more precious to herself because she is precious 
to her husband. 

Since the relation between the individual mem- 
ber and the church is as the relation between the 
bridegroom and his bride, several things become 
at once apparent. 

When a young man comes to me with his 
maiden to be married, I say to them something 
like this, " If it be your desire to take each other 
as husband and wife you will please declare the 
same by uniting your right hands." When they 
have done this, I say to the young man : " Do you 
take this woman, whose hand you hold, to be 
your lawful, wedded wife? And do you solemnly 
promise, before God and these witnesses, that 



H Cburcb Iiaie&&lna [33] 

you will love, honor, and cherish her; and that 
forsaking all others for her alone, that you will 
perform unto her all the duties that a husband 
owes to his wife, until God by death shall sepa- 
rate you ? " The young man answers, " I do." 

" As a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall 
thy sons marry thee/' sings the prophet of the 
church. From this it is plain that the relation be- 
tween the individual member and the church is a 



Voluntary Relation. 

Notice the first part of the ceremony, " If it 
be your desire to take each other as husband 
and wife, you will please declare the same by unit- 
ing your right hands." I do not unite their right 
hands, they do that. I do not choose the bride 
for the bridegroom, he does that. Every individ- 
ual member has a right to choose for himself the 
church to which he unites his life, and he has a 
right to say whether he will unite himself to any 
church or not, just as a man has a right to narrow 
his life by remaining an old bachelor if he so de- 
sires. In China the parents unite the bridegroom 
and the bride in infancy, but we do not in this 
country; neither did they do it among the Jews 
c 



[34] Wbat of tbe Cbutcbl 

in Isaiah's time. " Do you take this woman, 
whose hand you hold, to be your lawful wedded 
wife?" If he says "No," that settles it. No 
one can become a member of the church until 
he does it voluntarily, " as a young man marrieth 
a virgin." 

The marriage relation is 

A Relation of Love. 

" Do you solemnly promise, before God and 
these witnesses, that you will love? " If he says 
" No," the ceremony ceases. No sensible minis- 
ter would marry a young man to a woman if he 
would not promise to love her. Marriage is a re- 
lation born in love and sustained by love. With- 
out love it is a farce and a crime. 

" As a young man marrieth a virgin." How 
the ancient Jew loved his holy Zion! Does the 
bridegroom hold precious the very house in which 
his loved one dwells ? Hear the Jew, " How 
amiable are thy tabernacles, O Jehovah of hosts. 
My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts 
of Jehovah." Does the bridegroom long for the 
presence of the bride in the home? Listen, " One 
thing I have asked of Jehovah, that will I seek 



H Cburcb MefrMng [35] 

after; that I may dwell in the house of Jehovah 
all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of 
Jehovah and inquire in his temple." Does the 
bridegroom think an hour by the side of his bride 
is more to be desired than days in the presence of 
others? Listen again to the song of the Jew, " A 
day in thy courts is better than a thousand ; I had 
rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God 
than to dwell in the tents of wickedness/' Does 
time hang heavy, and does the bridegroom pledge 
his faithfulness when the bride is away? Listen 
to the cry of the Jew when he is an exile in a for- 
eign land : " If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my 
right hand forget her skill. Let my tongue cleave 
to the roof of my mouth, if I remember thee not; 
if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy." 

If the Jew loved the temple as a bridegroom 
loves his bride, surely we ought so to love the 
living church where Christ dwells ! We ought so 
to love the church that the very building which is 
its home should be dear to us. The bridegroom 
loves the home because within it he meets and 
abides with the bride. There are members in 
every church who can hardly go past their church 
building during the week without going inside. 
This is right. The building is dear because of the 



[36] TOat of tbe Cbutcb? 

fellowship of the church that meets within it. 
Ihe bridegroom so loves his bride that he finds it 
a joy to build for her a home. Every loyal mem- 
ber so loves his church that he finds it not a bur- 
den but a great joy to help build for her a fitting 
home. The bridegroom loves to toil for the sake 
of the bride he loves, and every true member of 
Christ's church finds his greatest joy in doing the 
work of that church. Do we so love our church 
that we look forward as did the Jew to dwell in 
the house of Jehovah? When separated from 
our church do we long for her as a bridegroom 
for his bride? Some of us do. A woman told me 
that she lived all of each week just for the com- 
ing of the Lord's Day. 
A young man marrieth a virgin expecting 

To Honor Her. 

" That you will love, honor," runs the service 
He expects to honor her by his faithfulness to her 
Her desires are to be the inspiration of much that 
he does. He expects to honor her by being true to 
the vows which he has taken at the marriage 
altar. To be unfaithful to those vows is to be 
untrue to her, untrue to himself, untrue to the 



H Cburcb Me^Mng [37] 

social order of which he is a part. He expects 
to honor her by the way he speaks of her, and 
the way he permits others to speak of her in his 
presence. He expects to honor her by keeping all 
his appointments with her as faithfully as he kept 
them in days gone by. If he permits her to pre- 
pare a dinner with invited guests, then fails to 
come and sit down with her and with them, he 
does not honor her ; he dishonors her before them 
all. If he becomes divorced from her through 
faults which are his own he suffers unspeakable 
disgrace. 

" As a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall 
thy sons marry thee." You know the vows we 
take when we covenant together as one body in 
Christ. Let us honor the church by being faith- 
ful to those vows. Do we honor our church by 
the way we speak of her and the way we permit 
others to speak of her in our presence, as the true 
bridegroom does his bride? When we have an 
appointment with our church, when our church 
prepares a spiritual feast with guests invited from 
the whole community, can we habitually neglect 
to be present without dishonoring our church be- 
fore them all? Having once taken the vows of 
church-membership, if we desert her for the 



[38] TKHbat of tbe Cbutcb? 

world, or lose our membership through faults 
which are our own, we dishonor the church and 
suffer a disgrace ourselves no less than when a 
man deserts his bride. 

A young man marries a maiden expecting 

To Cherish Her. 

" To love, honor, and cherish her." To cher- 
ish means not only to hold dear but to treat as 
dear. Mere unexpressed esteem is not cherish- 
ing. To cherish means all that one can do by love 
and tenderness for the welfare and happiness of 
the other. It means support, protection, care in 
sickness, and comfort in sorrow, and sympathy 
and help of every kind. It means that feeling of 
constant tenderness and trust, the mutual confi- 
dence and dependence that gives to the home life 
its sweetness and its peace, the charm which it 
is so hard to describe but which every one knows. 
It means that when the young man finds that she 
whom he has always thought to be an angel has 
real human faults, he is to be charitable and pa- 
tient; he is not to criticize nor scold, but rather 
by his own life he is to inspire her and strengthen 
her and help her to overcome her faults. 



H Cburcb TKHe&&lng [39] 

" As a young man marrieth a virgin." Not 
only is the individual member to love his church, 
he is to express to her his love by his every act. 
He is to do all within his power for her welfare 
and her peace. He is to care for her in her weak- 
ness ; he is to protect her in her need ; he is to help 
her in every way. He is to sympathize with her 
in all her aims, and co-operate with her in all her 
undertakings. If he finds that the church which 
he once thought to be perfect makes mistakes and 
has some human faults, he is not to sulk and to 
scold, but rather by his own righteous life he is 
to inspire the church to nobler living, and to 
strengthen her to overcome her faults. A man 
told me that he used to think he would leave the 
church because he found so many things that did 
not suit him. Now he had made up his mind that 
he would stay with the church so long as he lived ; 
if the church could stand him he thought he could 
stand the church. 

A young man marries a virgin expecting to be 

Loyal to Her. 

" And that forsaking all others for her alone." 
Henceforth for him there is but one woman. Of 



[40] TKHbat of tbe Cbntcb ? 

course he is to find pleasure in the society and the 
welfare of others, but never when her pleasure or 
her interest is sacrificed. To her he owes his 
strength, his service, his affection, his life. He 
is to be respectful to all, but he is to be affectionate 
to but one. What would you think of a man who 
would say, " Oh, yes, I have married a wife, but 
I am not much of a stickler for family relation. 
I love all women about alike." " But you are mar- 
ried to one ? " " Oh, yes, but I do not believe in 
being narrow. I try to be broad-minded. I be- 
lieve in treating all ladies alike." What would 
you think of him ? 

" As a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall 
thy sons marry thee." A man who would flirt 
with the church is no better than any other kind 
of flirt. When an individual pledges his life to 
the church, he does it forsaking all other institu- 
tions that would be rivals to it. The lodge, the 
club, the social function, any religious associa- 
tion of whatever name or function, all may claim 
his respect and a part of his attention and sup- 
port, but never when the interests of the church 
are to be sacrificed. It can have no rival. What 
would you think of a man who would say, " Oh, 
yes ; I am a member of the church, but I am none 



H Cbutcb XKae&&ing [41] 

of your narrow-minded type. I try to be as 
broad as the kingdom, as big as the spirit of kind- 
ness, and the ideal of culture. I am no stickler 
for the organized church. I love all religious 
and philanthropic and entertaining institutions 
about alike. Sometimes I attend one and some- 
times another. I usually go where I can hear the 
speaker that I like best, or where I can hear the 
finest music." Such a man walks hand in hand 
with the man who says : " Oh, yes, I know my 
wife prepared a nice dinner last night and in- 
vited in some of our friends to help us eat it. I 
know they waited quite a while for me to come, 
but Mrs. Smith over in the next block was serving 
tea as I came along, and as her family is not very 
large I thought it no harm to drop in and spend 
the evening with her. It encourages her you 
know, and my wife did not really need me. Any- 
way, I don't like our cook, and Mrs. Smith has a 
splendid new cook, and, besides, Mrs. Smith sings 
beautifully. I like to spend my evenings where 
I can hear good music, and I usually take my 
meals with the family on our street that has a 
cook that I like best." " Forsaking all others for 
her alone." " So shall thy sons marry thee." 
A young man marries a maiden expecting 



[42] Tlfflbat of tbe Cburcb? 

To Support Her. 

" That you will perform unto her all the duties 
which a husband owes to his wife." A true man 
does not marry a woman just for what she will 
bring to him. She may bring him a fortune, she 
may not; that does not matter. If she is a true 
woman she will bring to him more than he can 
ever give her in return, but it is not because of 
this that he marries her. For her own dear self, 
for what she is, he pledges his life to her service. 
He expects to support her, and she is to be his 
inspiration while he does it. He expects to pro- 
vide for her every need, and find his supreme joy 
in doing it. He does not expect her to support 
him; he does not expect her to support herself; 
neither does he expect any other man or company 
of men to support her. It is his own special 
privilege and right, as well as duty. He does not 
go about the community taking up a collection 
for her; he does not get up a pay social to buy 
her a dress; neither will he permit her to receive 
charity. 

This then is the relation between the individ- 
ual member and the church to which he belongs. 
He does not unite with the church primarily for 



H Cburcb TKHefttonfl [43] 

what he can get out of it, but for what he can 
give to it. Of course, it will do much for him, 
much more than he can do in return; but it is 
not for this he becomes one with it. He expects 
to support it; he expects to provide for all its 
needs. He does not expect to live upon its 
charity, nor to be a drag upon its work. He does 
not expect it to go begging through the commu- 
nity, nor to be supported by any other man or 
group of men. He does not expect it to support 
itself, by " itself " meaning only the other mem- 
bers. It is his privilege, and his right, and his 
duty to support it, and if he is a true member and 
a true man he will not surrender his right to 
others. If a man is absent from home for a 
month, or a vacation season, or a year, he does 
not expect some one else to support his wife while 
he is away. He provides for her support just as 
faithfully as though he were with her at home. 
The true member of Christ's church does not sus- 
pend his support of that church because he hap- 
pens to be away from his church home for a week, 
or a month, or a year. The work goes on and he 
goes on with his help. 

A young man marries a virgin expecting it 
to be 



[44] Mbat ot tbe Cbitrcb? 

A Relation that shall Last throughout Life. 

" Until God by death shall separate you." 
However much he may be disappointed, though 
she may not be all he had thought, so long as she 
is true to her marriage vows the bond is indissolu- 
ble. He is not to go away and forget her; he is 
not to be released at his selfish desire, nor for his 
own selfish pleasure ; he is not to go from one to 
another indiscriminately, but he is to be faithful 
unto her. 

This is the relation of the member to his 
church. They two are one. He is in the church 
and the church is in him. He is not to be sepa- 
rated from it without sufficient cause, never so 
long as it is true to its own vows and purposes. 
What would you think of a man who would go 
away and leave his wife because some member of 
her family had done something or said something 
which he did not like? Yet we have known per- 
sons to talk about leaving the church and to neg- 
lect her because some other member of the church 
family had said or done some little thing that hurt 
their feelings. 

It is a beautiful picture which the prophet pre- 
sents. How forcibly he describes the relation be- 



H Cburcb TKtte&Mng Us] 

tween God's children and the church ! "As a 
young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons 
marry thee." " If it be your desire to take each 
other as husband and wife, you will please de- 
clare the same by uniting your right hands. Do 
you now take this woman, whose hand you hold, 
to be your lawful wedded wife? and do you sol- 
emnly promise before God and these witnesses 
that you will love, honor, and cherish her; and 
that forsaking all others for her alone, that you 
will faithfully perform unto her all the duties 
which a husband owes to his wife, until God by 
death shall separate you? " And the young man 
shall answer, " I do." 



Ill 



H dburcb ffamtty 




Ill 



HEN Jesus said that the kingdom of 
heaven is like leaven which a woman 
put into some meal, every woman who 
heard him and who had ever made rising-bread 
knew at once what he meant. When Jesus said 
of Jerusalem, " How oft would I have gathered 
thee as a hen doth her chickens under her wings," 
every boy in the crowd who had ever watched an 
old speckled hen and her brood of chicks, under- 
stood him. When Paul, writing to the Ephe- 
sians, referred to the church as a family, every 
one of his readers, old and young, knew exactly 
what he would teach. 

Paul's naming the church a family reminds us 
of many things. The church is like a family, be- 
cause the only way to obtain 



Membership in it is by Birth. 

One cannot really belong to a family unless he 
is born into it. There are those who often wish 

D [49] 



[so] TKIlbat of tbe CEmtcbl 

they belonged to other families. They wish that 
other blood flowed in their veins ; that other ten- 
dencies and dispositions belonged to them. But 
there is no way to get into a family if one has 
neglected to be born into it. One can be adopted 
into a family by legal processes, and thus become 
an heir to money, and houses, and lands, but he 
is no more a real member of that family than he 
was before, and he can inherit nothing that is not 
material and external. One can marry into a 
family, and we have been accustomed to think 
that the woman in marriage becomes a member 
of her husband's family, but she does not. 
Legally she belongs to the new family ; all her in- 
terests may center in it ; her children will be born 
into it, but she herself can never in the deepest 
and truest sense be a member of it. 

There are many societies that have an artifi- 
cial basis of membership. In such societies any 
person fulfilling certain conditions can become a 
member, and remain in every sense a member so 
long as the required conditions are met. This is 
so of the lodge, and the labor union, and the club, 
and all other external organizations. 

There are two institutions where this is not 
true. There are only two institutions that do 



% Cburcb jfamtlg [si] 

not have an artificial basis of membership — the 
family and the church. Into the family one must 
be physically born; into the church one must be 
spiritually born. One may become a member of 
the church in an external way. He may become 
a member of the external organization of the 
church in a certain local place, just as one may 
be adopted into a family, but his relation is only 
an external one, for he is in no real sense a mem- 
ber of the real church. The church is a spiritual 
body of which the external organization is only 
the outward form. Many of its members are 
upon earth, many more of them are in heaven, 
but no one has ever become a member of it who 
was not born into it by a spiritual birth. One 
may be baptized, one may have his name on the 
roll of membership, one may receive the formal 
hand of fellowship, but " except one be born 
anew he cannot see the kingdom of God," much 
less be a member of it. 

When one is being born into a family he has 
no choice as to w r ho his relatives are to be. He 
cannot choose his brothers and sisters. Some 
people have wished they could have done so. So 
when one is born into the church he has no choice 
as to who his brethren are to be. He becomes a 



1>] Mbat ot tbe Cburcb? 

real spiritual brother to the rich and the poor, the 
white and the black and the brown. 

In the church, as a family, are found a great 

Variety of Temperaments. 

The members of a family often differ widely in 
their temperaments. The father may be stern 
and harsh, while the mother is sweet and gentle. 
One of the boys is quick-tempered and nervous, 
the other is peaceful and slow. One of the girls 
may be quiet, and sweet, and sensible; another 
is giddy, and loud, and foolish. They are all 
members of one family, however, and their dif- 
ferent temperaments do not change the fact of 
their relation. How foolish one member of the 
family would be to conclude that some of his 
brothers and sisters were not real members of the 
family, just because their dispositions differed 
from his own. 

The dispositions of the members of the church 
differ widely too. One is enthusiastic and emo- 
tional, and whenever anything pleases him he 
wishes to shout amen and hallelujah. Another 
is devotional, and would rather come in quietly, 
worship decorously, and go away without speak- 






H Cbtitcb jfamilg [53] 

ing to any one or having any one speak to him. 
One has a stern conscience, and has a great re- 
spect for law and duty. He does not care for 
cushions in the pews, nor for music in the choir. 
He only wishes to stand before God and con- 
fess his sins and his littleness, and go out and 
try to live a better life. One is intellectual, and 
demands a sermon of deep thought, well-pre- 
pared, with correct conclusions and inferences. 
Another is poetic and imaginative. He wants 
a sermon that is eloquent and beautiful. He 
wants music that is refined and cultured. He 
wants to worship in a building where everything 
is massive and beautiful. He will revel in ex- 
quisite forms of worship and expression, in robed 
choirs and ministers, polite, well-dressed ushers, a 
service that moves in stately and timely proces- 
sion. How foolish one member of the church 
family would be to suppose that some of the 
others were not real members, had never been 
born into the spiritual family, just because their 
temperament is different from his own. The 
family and the church are the only two institu- 
tions that can harmonize all these different tem- 
peraments and keep them peaceful in one body. 
The church and the family contain persons in 



[54] Wbat of tbe Cbutcb? 

All Conditions of Life. 

In the family Mary becomes a teacher, and her 
life is given to intellectual pursuits. John be- 
comes a physician, and gives himself to the minis- 
try of healing. One of the boys becomes a sol- 
dier or a sailor, but he is never forgotten in the 
old home. One is a merchant, and becomes rich. 
One is a statesman, and takes his place among the 
builders of the nation. One is a failure, and 
never succeeds. When a boy he would rather 
drive a delivery wagon than go to school. He is 
driving one yet, when he can get a job, but he is 
usually out of a job, and must be carried along 
by the rest of the family. But in all this diversity 
there is harmony and unity. The little children 
who come to the home all love Mary the teacher; 
if any of the family are ill they counsel with John, 
the physician. In business matters they consult 
the successful merchant; and Jim, who has al- 
ways been a failure, poor Jim, they keep and love 
and help all they can. 

The church family is not different. One is a 
successful teacher of Bible classes. One has evan- 
gelistic gifts, and gives himself to the healing of 
souls. One is a missionary, and sails away to up- 



H Cbutcb jfamilg [ss] 

hold the banner of the Christ on the far-flung 
battle-lines. One has executive gifts, and takes 
his place at the head of one of the great mission- 
ary societies, or he may even develop into a man 
of universal genius, and become the successful 
pastor of a small church. And one — he never 
does anything. He stumbles often; he under- 
takes some things and fails; he never supports 
the church, but receives its benefits or its charity 
while all the rest love him and are glad to help 
him. In the church some are rich and some are 
poor; some are learned and some are ignorant; 
some are pure and saintly and some are weak and 
faltering, but they are all one family, and they 
dwell together and they help one another. 

The church and the family are alike, in that 
in each there is 



One Spirit and One Interest. 

Each family has a spirit or tone all its own. 
One may feel it, though he may not be able to 
describe it, the moment he passes inside the door 
of the home. In one family it is a spirit of cul- 
ture and refinement ; in another a spirit of honor ; 
in another a spirit of avarice and desire for 



D>6] Mbat of tbe Cbutcb? 

wealth; in another a prevailing spirit of hospi- 
tality; in yet another there is a spirit of right- 
eousness and spirituality. 

Each family has an interest peculiarly its own. 
Each member of the family in his speech says 
" our " and " we." Long after the boys and girls 
have gone out from the old home they still speak 
of things as " ours " and still say " we." They 
still share the common interest. In the success 
of one they all rejoice; if one fails they all are 
grieved. If one does an evil thing they all feel 
the family disgrace. 

So there is a peculiar spirit and tone that be- 
longs to every true church. Every individual 
church has its own tone, but there is one spirit in 
the whole church. It is the spirit not of honor 
nor of greed, but the spirit of righteousness and 
of service. The spirit of helping, not receiving; 
of giving, not of getting. There are many on the 
outside who condemn the church who have never 
been close enough to it to hear its heart throb, 
to feel its spirit. Many families are condemned 
by those who misjudge them. 

The church too has a common interest. When 
one member succeeds in living a true and helpful 
life, all the rest rejoice with him. If one member 



H Cburcb jfamflg [57] 

fails, the whole church is grieved and the whole 
church suffers with him. Each one should al- 
ways remember that he is a part of the church 
family; that he has not only his own honor but 
the honor of the church to maintain. 

Every real member of the church, when he 
speaks of its work, says " our " and " we." The 
best test of the attitude of any member toward 
his church, and the best test of the manner in 
which he is fulfilling his pledged obligations to 
his church, is to find whether, when he speaks 
of the church and its activities, he says " we " 
or "they," "our" or " their." This will tell 
whether or not he is fulfilling his place as a mem- 
ber of the family. 

When the church realizes that it is a family, it 
will be more faithful, it will be more charitable, 
it will be more harmonious, it will be more lov- 
ing. Its members everywhere will stand to- 
gether, and work together, and suffer together, 
and rejoice together. It will honor its Elder 
Brother and the common Father. 



w 



Gbe problem of tbe Gburcb 




IV 



N antidote for the ills of one church 
might prove fatal to another. A 
ready-made panacea for every church 
would be like a patent medicine, made to cure 
everything but really cure nothing. No remedy 
has been found that will cure the same disease in 
every individual, yet some afflictions are uni- 
versal, and the same remedies are found gener- 
ally useful. We have frail bodies and we must 
use them, hoping for the time when our bodies 
will distress us no more. We have the fallible 
church; its methods are insufficient, its problems 
are great, but we must use the institution that 
we have and meet the problems as we may, ho- 
ping for the time when our work will be easier 
and our efforts more successful. The cry that 
comes up from all over our land is that the 
church is out of touch with the people. The 
supreme problem of the present-day church seems 
to be, How shall we reach the people whom we 
wish to reach ? 

[61] 



[6a] Mbat of tbe Cbuvcb? 

It is a problem that confronts every earnest 
pastor, and the people expect him to answer it; 
alas, too often they expect him to solve the prob- 
lem alone. There are some things he can do. 
This problem does not mean that our churches 
are empty. More people attend church to-day 
than ever before, but in general terms the peo- 
ple do not come. Not one-tenth of the people 
in the average city or town are regularly at 
church. What can we do ? We can 



Ask the People to Come. 

We must insist that each member of the church 
shall be a committee of invitation. We must keep 
our church before the public. We must advertise. 
We have much to learn from the theater, the 
lodge, and the merchant. If an evangelist comes 
we advertise the fact in every home in our town, 
and our church is crowded. When the evangelist 
leaves, the people never hear that we have a 
church until he comes again. It will not do to 
say that the people know we are here. The mer- 
chant who acted upon that principle would soon 
close his doors. The secret of successful adver- 
tising is to keep it up. Every church should have 



TEbe problem of tbe Cburcb [63] 

a press agent, whose business should be to keep 
the church before the people. Let the church 
advertise in the daily papers, in the street-cars, 
in every public place. Every city church should 
throw an electric sign across the street. The 
children of the world are indeed wiser than the 
children of light. We must advertise no goods 
that we cannot show, but we must advertise our 
goods. Let us 

Go for the Men. 

Every minister must be a man's man. We have 
had an impression that if the women came the 
men would come; especially that if the young 
women came the young men would come. We 
have been on the back track. Every pastor suc- 
ceeds in proportion as he succeeds with men. Fill 
the church with men and the women will come 
fast enough. Fill the church with women and the 
men will fight shy. Women admire a man who is 
a power among men. Men despise a man who is 
influential only among women. Call upon men at 
their work; mix with men; associate with men 
in all the affairs of the community; be a man. 
Too long has humanity been classed in three divi- 



[64] Mbat of tbe Cburcb? 

sions — men, women, and preachers. The pastor 
must 



Give the People Something 

to come to church for. Of course he must visit 
his people, but no amount of running about from 
house to house, or from shop to shop, during the 
week will atone for a weak and flabby pulpit on 
Sunday. Never forget that the supreme business 
of the preacher is to preach. The pulpit must be 
a power in the community. The idea that a min- 
ister can prepare but one good sermon a week 
and must use the remnants for the other service is 
one cause of failure. There must be two good 
sermons if there are two preaching services. 
Shame on the man who will ask a company of 
people to give an hour of their time each week 
while he feeds them on a mess of hash, made 
from the scraps from which all the juice has 
been extracted in the morning! 

Before the time of the daily paper, and maga- 
zines, and cheap books, and the rural free delivery 
such a course might have been pursued, but that 
day is past The minister must study — study 
books. The Book first, but books — science, phi- 






ZEbe problem of tbe Cburcb [65] 

losophy, history, poetry, fiction, sociology, ethics, 
as well as theology. He dare not say he has not 
time. He must take time. He must study men. 
He must go where men go and find what appeals 
to them. He must keep young, keep bright, keep 
full. The dead-line is a ghost, but it need not 
become a reality. A Persian sage has said, " I 
will drink up the ocean if you stop up the rivers 
flowing into it." Sometimes the silkworm is 
afflicted with a little parasite, and then it will 
go through all the processes of spinning with- 
out producing silk. The preacher's heart must 
sweat, God knows how much, but his brain must 
sweat too. A lady asked me once if it were true 
that the Lord put into my mouth what I was to 
say. I answered, "Yes, but it takes an awful 
lot of hard work to get it out again." Inspira- 
tion is a great thing, but one would as well 
drop the Greek alphabet and look to pick up the 
" Iliad," as to expect to go before his people un- 
prepared and preach a telling sermon. Edison 
has declared that genius is one-tenth inspiration 
and nine-tenths perspiration. Great sermons 
have been preached seemingly without prepara- 
tion, but the experience and education of a life- 
time were drawn upon for them. This cannot be 

E 



166] xmbat of tbe Cbutcb? 

done many times in the same pulpit. We are not 
to worship at the shrine of intellectualism. It 
may run mad. The preacher is more than a 
teacher ; but few are in danger of erring here. 
The successful pastor must 

Keep out of Ruts. 

He must try new schemes. Monotony in heaven 
would drive the angels mad. Variety is the 
spice of services. The minister who is afraid 
to cast old machinery into the scrap-heap will go 
there himself. The church in its work and its 
methods has failed to keep pace with the rest of 
the world. " 'Tain't a knowin' sort o' cattle that 
is ketched with moldy corn. ,, One would bet- 
ter be sensational than be a stick. The most 
revolutionary and sensational preacher the world 
has ever known was the Man from Nazareth. 
He has even been called the humorist of the New 
Testament. 

There is a growing idea that the people do not 
need the church. The great union revivals have 
strengthened the idea. Not more than about 
ten per cent of the reported converts unite with 
the churches. In our insistence upon the per- 



ZEbe problem of tbe Cbutcb [67] 

sonal relation of the individual with Christ we 
have minimized the church. We must preach 
more earnestly the place of the church in the 
divine system, in our social system, in the life 
of every true follower of Christ. 

We will reach more people when we find the 
real 

Message for the Present Generation. 

There is but one message for the church, but the 
emphasis shifts with every age. The gospel is 
eternal, but men will no longer accept authority 
outside their own conscience. The old book still 
stands, it will continue to stand; it is the chart 
without which we cannot sail, but the mariner as 
he studies the chart must steer by the stars. No 
matter what we believe, the people will no longer 
accept a truth just because it is in the Bible. We 
must teach men to-day how to grow in their own 
hearts the flowers of true religion ; how to see in 
their own skies the stars of everlasting truth; 
how to hear in their own lives the song of faith 
and the music of love ; how to keep alive in their 
own souls unselfishness, the spirit of brotherhood, 
and the power of communing with the Father of 



168} Mbat of tbe Cbttrcb? 

all through Jesus Christ. The message for to-day 
is the simple religion of the Man of Nazareth 
without a great deal of the theology of the church. 
The great revival that is needed to-day is 

An Ethical Revival, 

in the church and out of it. There is no differ- 
ence between true morality and religion, they can- 
not be separated. Morality is religion toward 
men, while religion is morality toward God. 
There is no such thing as " mere morality. " That 
which is so called is only an attempt to conform 
to an external standard. It is not morality, it is 
pharisaism. Jesus said, " Except your righteous- 
ness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and 
Pharisees. . ." They were scrupulous in obe- 
dience to certain rules of conduct. The morality 
which Christ commanded springs from a char- 
acter that is poor in spirit, meek, hungry for right- 
eousness, merciful, loving, peace-possessing, and 
peace-making. The first finds its expression in 
the words, " I am not as other men are " ; the 
second recognizes the truth that " he who ceases 
to become better ceases to be good." " No heart 
is pure that is not passionate; no virtue safe that 



TEbe problem ot tbe Cburcb [69] 

is not enthusiastic." Nothing is moral which is 
less than a passionate pursuit of the highest ideal 
which the soul is capable of entertaining. 

We must teach that no man can be honest who 
refuses to pay his debt to God; no man is trust- 
worthy who dwarfs and destroys the soul for 
which Christ died; no man can be a true man 
until he is vitally united to God through Jesus 
Christ. No man is really moral who is not right- 
eous. If the prevailing temper of the church, that 
acquiesces in the universal respectability, had 
always belonged to the church the present stand- 
ard would never have been reached. How many 
of our churches dare proclaim to the world, 
" Repent and become like me!" There is a spirit 
abroad in our churches and out of them, an 
evil spirit which goeth not out save with much 
fasting and prayer, the spirit which is exemplified 
in the so-called moral man who is content to 
dwell in the things that are behind; who turns 
a deaf ear to the commands of Christ : " Be ye 
perfect, even as your Father in heaven is per- 
fect " ; the unwise men of the West who shut 
their eyes to the blazing star of Bethlehem that 
would lead them to the world's ideal; the men 
who sit content within the wigwam of their spirit- 



[70] TJfflbat of tbe Cburcb? 

ual lives and declare that it costs too much to be 
a white man. 

A false sense of life has blinded men's souls. 
The voice of God is drowned by the roar of ma- 
chines, the rush of wheels. Life as raw ma- 
terial is fed to the machine. In the factory a man 
is grasped and hurled to death. He is quickly 
covered up and carried out. The wheels do not 
stop; his comrades hardly pause while he is car- 
ried away. Thirty-six hours later his son will 
stand in the old place, feeding his young life to 
the machine. Men have hardly time to bury their 
dead. Life is cheap. How can we expect them 
to pause and consider the meaning of moral and 
spiritual life, of moral and spiritual death? The 
social crisis and the religious crisis are one. In 
large part they will be solved together. We must 
put in contrast with the American spirit of accu- 
mulation, Christ's spirit of distribution; in con- 
trast with the American spirit of acquisition, his 
spirit of service and sacrifice. We must " put 
the life and teaching of Jesus alongside our ma- 
terialistic lives to show us how sordid is our 
boasted splendor, how petty our boasted great- 
ness, how ignoble our proud ambitions," and it 
will inspire us with a new and divine idea of life, 



Ube problem ot tbe Cbutcb [71] 

and a new and divine courage to attempt its 
realization. We must teach men that the making 
of a life is more than the making of a living; that 
the prosperous life is not measured by dollars and 
cents, but in all that deepens the insight, broadens 
the horizon, lifts up the soul into fellowship with 
the eternal. We must teach men that the Life 
Abundant is possible for every man regardless 
of his surrounding circumstances; that while the 
hands toil the heart may sing; that we may live 
like the lily with feet planted in the mire, but 
with the face upturned to the sun and the stars; 
that like the giant mountain, we may stand with 
feet surrounded by swamps and briers, but with 
the head uplifted above the clouds and bathed in 
the eternal sunshine of God's presence. 

The foundation of all is faith in the sacrifice 
and merits of Jesus Christ Behind the cross we 
must ever hide, but the emphasis for the present 
age must not dwell here alone. Too long have we 
stood with Luther and cried, " Justification by 
faith." It is time to consider the message of 
James which Luther despised, " Faith without 
works is dead." Too long have we slandered hu- 
manity and declared that man can do nothing but 
trust. The message for to-day is the possibility 



[72] Ttdbat of tbe Cbutcbl 

of the human life redeemed by Christ and united 
to God. Too long have we preached depravity 
and marveled at the love of God for a worthless 
soul. We must now realize that the soul is worth 
all that the Father paid to redeem it. We must 
declare the value of the soul for whom God gave 
his Son ; the soul for whom Christ gave his life ; 
the soul for whom the Holy Spirit pleads. 

This is the message for our churches no less 
than for the world. When our churches hear it 
and respond, then the world will hear it too. We 
must present a conception of God, of Christ, of 
duty, of destiny, and of life, to which the best 
religious instinct of our age will bow. We must 
give an adequate definition of how a Christian 
man should live under modern conditions. We 
must present an adequate goal for the righteous 
ambition of the human soul — not a goal of white 
robes and hymn books, but a goal of glorious 
service, and then summon men to it. To this 
gospel, not so much to-day of the death as of the 
life of the Christ; to its great teaching of what 
man is in his ideal and what he may become in 
his real life, the age will listen. 

Only let us be sure we make plain the foundation 
and strength of the Christ life — union with the 



Ube problem of tbe Cburcb [73] 

Father — which must also be the foundation and 
strength of our life. Let us make plain that this 
can be gained only through personal, vital rela- 
tion to the crucified and risen Christ of Nazareth, 
eternal God incarnate. 



ID 

Gbe Opportunity of tbe Cburcb 




V 



HE Sunday-school is the opportunity of 
the church; an opportunity often neg- 
lected, sometimes overestimated, never 
fully appropriated. A Sunday-school that is such 
only in name is a detriment to the church. To be 
a real force it must be a real Sunday-school. To 
make it this is to make it the greatest opportunity 
of the modern church. How to make a Sunday- 
school is a problem of three parts. First, how to 
make it anything ; then, how to make it a school ; 
and, finally, how to make it a Sunday-school. To 

Make the Sunday-school Anything 

in the church that it ought to be, there must be 
a realization of its importance. The pastor must 
realize the importance of the Sunday-school. 
Many pastors do not. Some pastors even yet 
look upon the Sunday-school, and the whole 
Sunday-school movement, with suspicion. The 
theological seminaries have been strangely in- 

[77] 



[78] Wbat of tbe Cburcb? 



different to the great problem and work of the 
Sunday-school. How many seminaries in our 
land to-day have a chair of religious pedagogy 
and Sunday-school methods? The average pas- 
tor is unqualified to take hold of the Sunday- 
school problem. He has never been trained for 
that kind of work. When he leaves the seminary, 
such terms as child nature, adolescence, religious 
pedagogy, and the data of psychology have to 
him only a vague and far-away meaning. He 
knows nothing of the history of the Sunday- 
school movement. He knows but little of the 
best methods of organizing and grading and 
conducting the Sunday-school. Is it strange if 
that pastor, engulfed in sermon preparation, and 
missionary activity, and pastoral work, and the 
thousand problems that come to him each month 
as the executive head of a local church, forgets 
that he is the pastor of the Sunday-school, fails 
to recognize its importance, fails to take his 
place as the leader and inspiration of the school, 
on Sunday and each day of the week? The pas- 
tor should never fail to be in the Sunday-school, 
on the platform, every Sunday on time, with his 
own Bible, a liberal offering, a studied lesson, and 
a mind to help. He should be an inspiration to 



TEbe ©pportunttg of tbe Cbmxb [79] 

the teachers, an example to the scholars, a coun- 
selor and leader to the officers. 

The church must realize the importance of the 
Sunday-school. Every member of the church 
ought to be a member of the Sunday-school. This 
is seldom realized, but there is no good reason 
why it should not be. The entire church should 
recognize the important place the Sunday-school 
holds in modern religious work. Some of the Sun- 
day-school enthusiasts disgust us by their claims. 
They tell us that ninety-five per cent of the 
churches grow out of Sunday-schools ; that eighty- 
seven per cent of the converts come out of the 
Sunday-schools ; that the church spends but three 
per cent of its money on the Sunday-school, et 
cetera, ad infinitum. It all sounds convincing and 
it may be all true, but we could just as well turn it 
round and say that the whole Sunday-school move- 
ment came out of the church and is maintained by 
the church; that one hundred per cent of the Sun- 
day-schools are established by the church; that 
ninety-nine per cent of the support of the Sunday- 
school workers comes from the church; that 
ninety-nine per cent of the Sunday-school officers 
and teachers come from the church ; that most of 
these converts, after all, are converted in the 



[8o] TKftbat ot tbe Cbutcb? 

church service or through the work of the pastor, 
and not in the Sunday-school. The Sunday-school 
has never been the head of the church, but it is 
and ought to be the strong right hand of the 
church. 

The people will not come to church unless they 
have formed the habit in childhood and youth. 
The Sunday-school is the one great means by 
which the church may inculcate that habit. The 
supreme work of the Sunday-school is as a feeder 
of the church. If it fails here it fails utterly. 
The time will probably come when the Sunday- 
school will take the place of one preaching serv- 
ice on Sunday. Then the entire church will 
gather once for Bible study and once for pastoral 
instruction, inspiration, and evangelism. That 
time has not yet come. Until that time comes the 
Sunday-school should be not only a feeder to the 
membership of the church, but a feeder to the at- 
tendance at the church service. Here is one of the 
greatest problems of the whole Sunday-school 
movement. Whenever the Sunday-school takes 
the place of the church service in any life, the 
Sunday-school has failed. 

Our churches should understand that the Sun- 
day-school is not merely for the children. The 



TEbe Opportunity ot tbe Cburcb [81] 

greatest problem of Sunday-school attendance is 
how to get the parents to come. When this is 
settled, the question of how to get the children, 
how to hold the boy, how to interest the young 
people — all will be settled. The parents will 
come when they realize the importance of the 
Sunday-school. When this is done, we will make 
it something worth while. 
Our problem then will be 

How to make it a School. 

Two things are necessary for a school : a 
teacher and a pupil. We can never have a real 
Sunday-school until we have real teachers and 
real students. The first problem here is how to 
get proper teachers. Here, as everywhere, much 
depends upon the pastor. The teacher's vocation 
must be exalted. It is a vocation. It is a calling 
just as truly as being a minister or being a mis- 
sionary. It is a calling almost as important as 
that of the ministry, second only to it. Those 
who would be teachers must realize this. When 
teachers realize the sacredness and the importance 
of their calling they will be faithful to it. A 
teacher who is not faithful to his work is not 



[82] Tlfflbat of tbe Cbttrcb? 

fit to teach. A teacher who will stay away from 
his class because he has company at home, or 
because he has a headache, or because he prefers 
to be out of town, should not be allowed to teach. 
What would be thought of a minister who treated 
his calling in the same way ? 

Since this work is so important and so sacred, 
we cannot have proper teachers until we have 
trained teachers. We would not permit a barber 
to trim the hair of our children if he were not 
skilled. We would not permit a teacher to teach 
our children in the public school if he were not 
trained for his work. How long shall we leave 
the shaping of the immortal souls of our chil- 
dren to careless and clumsy and untrained hands ? 

The teacher must be educated in being a Chris- 
tian. He should be trained in the school of 
prayer. He should know how to walk and talk 
with God. He should know the book he is to 
teach. A teacher would not be kept in the pub- 
lic schools who kept just ahead of his pupils. 
Some day we will have training schools where 
our young men and women can learn to be teach- 
ers — Bible teachers, Christian teachers, teachers 
who not only grasp the truth, but teachers whom 
the truth grasps and compels them to teach, even 



Ube ©pportunitg of tbe Cbutcb [83] 

as Paul was compelled to preach. 1 Meanwhile, 
we must have our local training schools. Every 
school can have a teacher-training class composed 
of young people, who are willing to give them- 
selves to teaching and who are willing thoroughly 
to prepare for it. Then unless all our present 
teachers have come up through such a class, we 
should have a training class composed of them 
— fitting themselves to become real teachers. We 
have not a Targe majority of real teachers. It is 
not their fault, they have never had a chance. 
Every school should have a good teacher's library, 
and should find some effective way to get . the 
teachers to use it. Every real school must have 
teachers' meetings ; if not each week, then at least 
each month. Much can be done toward better 
teaching in this way. Our teachers have time for 
this. They do not stop their daily paper, with 
its sixteen pages of hash and trash, for want of 
time to read it. They do not refuse an invitation 
to spend an evening out in a social way for want 
of time. When they realize that teaching is the 
supreme and sacred calling of their lives they will 

1 It is but just to say that the necessity has to some extent at least 
created the fact. The teachers' training class has been formed. Text- 
books have been prepared. Already is there a large enrolment. The 
work is done by correspondence, but it is work. ^ The publishers of 
this book will be glad to answer questions regarding it. 



[34] TKHbat ot tbe Cbutcb? 

find time to fit themselves for it. No work can 
bring richer rewards, objectively and subjectively, 
than this. 

For a real school there must be not only real 
teachers, but real pupils too. To get real pupils 
depends largely upon having real teachers. How 
to get the pupil to be regular, to be on time, to 
study his lesson at home, is one of the hardest 
problems of the Sunday-school. We can use no 
compulsion. The only way is to make it a matter 
of honor. Each school can adopt some plan of 
honors and rewards, and follow it for years with 
ever-increasing success. It will take time to build 
up a school spirit and pride, but when it is done 
it becomes an irresistible power, making for a 
better school. Progressive prize systems work 
well in establishing such a spirit and habit, but 
are usually expensive. The more successfully 
they are worked the more expensive do they be- 
come. 

The best help to real study and faithful work 
by the scholars is careful grading and consistent 
promotion. Graded lessons help, but a school can 
be well graded with any system of lessons and 
proper teachers. But with all these helps a school 
can never have real pupils until it has real teach- 



Tlbe ©pportunttg ot tbe Cbutcb [85] 

ers. The teacher is the primary solution of prob- 
lems that relate to the pupil. 

But when we have made of the Sunday-school 
something worth while, and when we have made 
of this important something a real school, there 
remains the important problem of 

How to make it a Sunday-school. 

A Sunday-school is a good deal more than a 
school. It is a particular kind of a school. It is 
generally supposed to be a narrow kind of a 
school; in reality, it is the broadest in the scope 
of its work of any school the world has ever 
known. Its purpose is to develop the body, mind, 
and spirit of its pupils. Its primary purpose is 
revealed in its name. Sunday is a holy day, a 
day for fixing the mind on God and communing 
with him. A Sunday-school is a school whose 
primary purpose is to train the individual in his 
relation to God. The Sunday-school is more than 
a school as such. It has been called the children's 
church. There are many objections to calling it 
this, but in a real sense it is this. Many children 
and adults too know it as their church, and may 
never know any other church. Until they do 



[se] TOIlbat of tbe Cbutcb? 

know another church the Sunday-school must 
fulfil for them many of the functions of a church. 

To make it a real Sunday-school two things are 
important: We must make much of the worship 
element and make the supreme aim evangelistic. 

All the songs should be worshipful. We must 
have songs with life and snap in the school, but 
no song is fit to sing here if it contains only life 
and snap. There must be no long prayers, nor 
prayers that are over the children's heads in the 
school, but we want no prayers that are not wor- 
shipful in tone and sincere in purpose. There 
should be no special features in the school at 
any time, nor under the auspices of the school at 
any time, that are not worthy of a Sunday-school. 
All Christmas services, Easter services, Children's 
Day and Rally Day services, all special services 
should be thoroughly spiritual and worshipful. 
The order and decorum and spiritual tone of the 
school can be made just as reverent and worship- 
ful as they are in the church service, and should 
be so. This will not make the school dry, it will 
make it rich. 

Then every officer and teacher of the school 
must remember that the supreme aim of the 
school is evangelistic. Each teacher should be an 



ZEbe ©ppottunttg ot tbe Cburcb [87] 

evangelist for his class. He should be as a pastor 
of his class. He should feel the burden of the 
souls of his class, and the responsibility for the 
character of each of his scholars. He should 
never believe he has succeeded until he has led 
his pupils to confess Jesus Christ as a Saviour 
and to consecrate their lives to his service. The 
best definition of teaching is " enabling another 
to restate the truth in terms of his own life." Not 
until the teacher sees the truth he has taught re- 
stated in the life of his pupil can he be satisfied. 
We do not have a real Sunday-school until we are 
leading our pupils to become Christians and to 
live lives worthy of Christians. 

The ideal is high. Every ideal Christ set for 
his people is high. We cannot make a Sunday- 
school in a day, nor a week, nor a year, but we 
can make it, and when we do the opportunity of 
the church will be realized. 



ID1F 
Gbe Mission of tbe Cburcb 




VI 



HE last words of a hero or a leader are 
cherished by the world. The last 
words of a friend or loved one are 
sacred to the memory. The last words of a loved 
father, a sainted mother, of a little child that has 
gone, we can never forget. We still feel the 
grasp of a vanished hand ; the last whispered re- 
quest has not died in our ears, and a thousand 
times we have vowed that, God helping us, we 
would do that thing. If the task laid upon us has 
been great, we have been all the more ready and 
anxious to do it. The human heart is always 
thrilled by a great call, especially if it has come 
from lips that have been loved and lost. It was 
the memory of a father's request and a child's 
promise that lifted Hannibal over the Alps and 
hurled him against the walls of Rome. 1 They 
gave to him an irresistible impulse. 

1 There is a story also that Hannibal, when about nine years of 
age, in boyish fashion coaxing his father, Hamilcar, that he might 
be taken with him to Spain, since he was sacrificing and about to 
lead his army there after the completion of the war in Africa, was 
taken to the altar, and with his hand upon the sacred victims, bound 



[91] 



|>2] TOUbat of tbe Cbutcbt 

We cherish all the words of Jesus, but the last 
ones that fell from his lips as his task upon earth 
was completed should be cherished most. If you 
were to speak but one more sentence, how careful 
you would be to make it a worthy one ! As Jesus 
spoke his last words he was taken up into the 
clouds. It was his last message to those who 
would do his will, his last request to those who 
loved him most. It was so important that Mat- 
thew, Mark, and Luke all record it, and Luke 
repeats it when he begins the book of Acts — 
" Preach the gospel to the whole creation," " Ye 
shall be my witnesses unto the uttermost part of 
the earth." 

This is the supreme mission of the church, be- 
cause it is the 



Personal Command of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Since he is our Lord and our King, we should 
ask no more than the assurance that it is his 
command. The strength of an army is the disci- 

by a great oath that as soon as possible he would become an enemy 
to the Roman people. — Livy, XXI -I. Translation by George W. 
Payne. 

Hannibal related this incident to Antiochus the Great, king of 
Syria. The youth grew up under a keen sense of this obligation, 
and served his military apprenticeship in Spain. — "Library of His- 
torical Characters." J. B. Millet Company. 



XEbe feitggion of tbe Cburcb [93] 

pline of its soldiers. The true soldier never 
argues, he obeys. A professing Christian once 
expressed to the Duke of Wellington a doubt as 
to the expediency of missions. The duke, trained 
to military discipline, replied, " Look to your 
marching orders." It is the King's command, it 
is enough. 

But there are greater influences even with kings 
and leaders than abstract loyalty and pure disci- 
pline. The relation between the king and the 
subject, the general and the private, means much. 
The Russian subject is loyal to his czar, but his 
whole service is half-hearted, because the rela- 
tion between them is cold and distant. During 
the late war of the East, the Russian soldier was 
loyal to his general, but his heart was not in the 
fight because the general was as arrogant as his 
government and the soldier was a slave. Men 
are truly loyal to the ruler; soldiers are wholly 
loyal to the leader who lives and feels and suffers 
with them. Ease and comfort are not required. 
If the relation between leader and follower is 
warm and close, men are willing to suffer and 
die. 

In Scotland's fight for liberty, when Wallace 
led his army disguised as a stranger, he met over- 



[94] Mbat of tbe Cbutcbl 

whelming defeat; but in the midst of defeat re- 
moving his mask the soldiers recognized their old 
comrade and hero, and with a shout of gladness 
followed him to victory. Even hardship and suf- 
fering is not an obstacle. There is an appeal in 
the very fact that the project is difficult. When 
Garibaldi, the Italian patriot, went before a crowd 
of young men and appealed for recruits, they 
asked, " What will you give us? " " I will give 
you," the hero replied, " long marches, fatigue, 
hunger, cold, wounds, and to some of you death ; 
and in the end a free Italy ! " And the men said, 
" We will go ! " This is the command that comes 
to the church to-day from its King and its Leader ; 
its loved hero who has lived and suffered and 
bled with us in the fight ; he who surrendered and 
endured all as he led us in the fight for righteous- 
ness ; he who left heaven and climbed the Mount 
of Calvary alone to bring the good tidings to men. 
He offers nothing easy. Listen — it is the appeal 
of a strong man to strong men : " Behold, I send 
you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves : they 
will deliver you up to councils, and in their syna- 
gogues they will scourge you; yea and before 
governors and kings shall ye be brought Then 
shall they deliver you up into tribulation and shall 



Zbc mitggion of tbe Cburcb [95] 

kill you : and ye shall be hated of all the nations 
for my name's sake. And then shall many stum- 
ble and shall deliver up one another, and shall 
hate one another. . . But he that endureth to the 
end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel 
of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole 
world for a testimony unto all the nations." Then 
at last he stands, scarred with the wounds of bat- 
tle ; his face and brow are marred by thorns ; the 
print of the spear is in his side ; he stretches forth 
his nail-pierced hands in one parting blessing. 
" All this," he seems to say, " All this I have suf- 
fered for you, with you. Go preach the gospel 
to the whole creation. And lo, I will go with 
you." Because the task is hard we answer, " Yes, 
Lord, with thee we will go." The harder the task 
the greater will be the help. 

This is the greatest mission of the church, be- 
cause in it is the very 

Essence of the Gospel. 

The watchword of the gospel is that " God so 
loved the world that he gave." The keyword of 
redemption is that Christ loved us and gave him- 
self for us. The motive which controlled his 



[96] Mbat of tbe Cburcb? 

whole earthly life was the principle of love which 
expressed itself in giving. The essence of Chris- 
tianity is holiness and service, the giving of all 
one is and all one has for the good of the world. 
This principle is peculiar to the religion of Christ. 
Because it is for the world it is destined to con- 
quer the world. When the Chinese student asks : 
" If a woman should fall into the water, and the 
only way of rescuing her was to extend the hand, 
should he attempt to save her or let her perish ? ,: 
" Better let her drown," answers Mencius the 
philosopher, " than to contaminate your hand by 
her touch." Compare Mencius with Jesus as he 
stands by Jacob's well, or when they bring to him 
the woman taken in the act of sin. A Moslem 
said, " I know that the Protestants are the best 
of all the sects." "How do you know that?" 
asks a bystander. " You are a Moslem. What do 
you know of the teachings of the Protestants? ,: 
The Moslem replied : " I know by one sign. If 
I go to a priest he says to me, ' Give ' ; if I 
go to Moolah he says to me, * Give ' ; if I go to 
an official or a friend they say to me, ' Give ' ; all 
say i Give/ The Protestants alone say, ' Take/ 
Their schools say, ' Take ' ; their teachings say, 
'Take'; their charities say, 'Take/ By this I 



TEbe ftoiggion of tbe Cburcb [97] 

know that they are the best." 2 It is the principle 
that will win the world. 

Christ's love was as wide as the world. It 
knew no limitation. For the whole world God 
gave him; for the whole world he died. The 
necessity he came to supply is as wide as the realm 
of sin and sorrow. If he is the Saviour that you 
and I need, he is the Saviour for all men every- 
where. As well ask the sun's rays to pour upon 
only a limited portion of the earth's surface, as to 
try to restrain the love of Christ or limit his mes- 
sage to any part of the race or to any time. This 
is because humanity is more than a collection of 
individuals. Humanity is one. The race is one. 
The Bible view is that he has made of one blood 
every nation. The theological view is that hu- 
manity is one in Christ. The Indian proverb is, 
" There is no lotus without a stem." The view of 
modern philosophy is expressed in the declaration 
of the solidarity of the race. Since the race is one, 
the sin of the race is one ; the need of the race is 
one ; the Saviour of the race is one ; the gospel for 
the race is one. In the language of Christ, " The 
field is the world." The distinction between home 



2 "Current Anecdotes," August, 1905. Quoted from a mission- 
ary's report. 



[98] Wbat ot tbe Cbutcb? 

and foreign melts away in the light that beams 
from the cross. The obligation of the church to 
carry the gospel to the man on the opposite side 
of the earth is just as great as the obligation to 
carry it to the man next door. The only distinc- 
tion is one of opportunity. Modern methods have 
so blessed us that there is but little difference in 
opportunity. 

Not only is humanity one in Christ, but Christ 
is in us. The church is but the overflow of Christ 
as the bay is the overflow of the ocean. Every 
shore that is washed by the bay catches the breath 
of the sea. Every land into which the true church 
of Jesus goes, bearing the glad tidings of salva- 
tion from sin, receives Christ himself. Christ 
manifests himself to-day only through his church. 
We must carry him to the world. Why? Be- 
cause his religion says, " Take." It is its nature 
to give ; its very essence is to overflow the world, 
just as the ocean waters the whole earth. The 
question, " Why should we give money to save 
the heathen abroad when there are heathen within 
our own country to save ? " is no more logical 
than the question, " Why should I spend on my 
family that which I want for myself? " The only 
answer to either is, " Because I am a Christian." 



Ube flniggion of tbe Cburcb [99] 

To preach the gospel everywhere is the chief 
mission of the church, because of our own 



Obligation to Missions. 

The gospel is not original with us. It is not 
even a Western product. It was born in the 
farthest East, among men of a different race and 
color. We are as far away from the place of its 
origin as are the heathen nations of the earth to- 
day. Merely because all roads lead to Rome it 
was carried westward. If the world's metropolis 
had been eastward from Palestine, Christianity 
would have traveled that way, and in all proba- 
bility to-day China, and India, and perhaps Af- 
rica would be bringing the gospel to us. If Paul 
had not preached foreign missions unceasingly, if 
he had turned back because of scourgings and 
stonings and certain death, the gospel might have 
never reached Rome nor us, but would have re- 
mained a narrow national religion of Palestine. 
We have it because the first disciples, and many 
subsequent believers, have obeyed Christ's com- 
mand and passed it on. It is not ours to keep, it 
belongs to the world. If we withhold from other 
men what belongs to them, while they perish, 



[ioq] TKftbat of tbe Cbutcb? 

i— —a wn i n m e m imm i twt^rmm i 'rrT m tm a ^ t n ra n Bm nm im m m m m mtmmmmmoaaammmmmmmmaBmmmmmmmmmmKmtm 

what shall we say to the Lord when he comes? 
" Freely ye have received, freely give." Let us 
not wrap the gospel in a napkin nor hide it in the 
earth. 

The extent to which 

Go d has Blessed the Work 

proves it to be the most important work of the 
church. Missions have always been the essence of 
Christianity, but modern missions began only a 
little more than a century ago. Their marvelous 
success is one of the most thrilling chapters of the 
world's history. For years the work was slow 
while the seed was being sown, but to-day the 
church is reaping its greatest harvests in heathen 
lands. The inspiration of the church at home are 
its triumphs abroad. The transformations go- 
ing on to-day in heathen lands cannot be realized 
from statistics, though they are enormous. Sir 
Bartle Frere, the late English governor at Bom- 
bay, said : " I assure you that whatever may be 
told to the contrary, the teaching of Christianity 
among one hundred and sixty million of Hindus 
and Mohammedans in India is effecting changes 
— moral, civil, and political, which for extent and 



Ube /IDtasion of tbe Cburcb [iqi] 

rapidity are far more extraordinary than you and 
your fathers have witnessed in modern Europe." 

God's blessing in the past is the assurance of 
his blessing in the future. A hundred years ago 
we started with nothing and the doors of the 
world were shut. To-day we have men, and 
money, and working plants, while the door of the 
world is wide open, and the Macedonian plea is 
being repeated from every land. Who dares to 
fix a limit for the progress of the century before 
us? 

History has proved this to be the supreme mis- 
sion because of 



The Reflex Influence 

upon the church itself. How rich this has been! 
It could not be otherwise. A fire warm enough to 
reach the distant corners must of necessity dif- 
fuse a genial glow in the circle close around. It is 
by reaching forth its branches that a tree's center 
of life becomes strong, The gospel kept at home 
would become effete and old. When it is sent 
forth for new conquests and glories, it becomes 
ever new. The nature of the gospel is to be told. 
Its very name means " Good News." The busi- 



[iQ2] Tlfflbat of tbe CEmtcb? 

ness of the church is an offensive warfare. An in- 
stitution can be successful only in so far as it 
does the business for which it was founded. The 
best soldiers are volunteers. It is the church that 
has no responsibilities outside its own narrow en- 
vironment, that has time to wrangle and destroy 
itself. When the Roman army was in hopeless 
revolt, Germanicus united it by leading it against 
the enemy to victory. Whenever in history the 
church has divided upon missions, the missionary 
party has gone forward to world conquests and 
tremendous growth, while the other party has 
dwindled and disappeared. An artist was asked 
to paint a decaying church. To the astonishment 
of many, for it came to him as a revelation, he 
painted not an old tottering ruin, but a stately 
edifice of modern grandeur. Magnificent and 
faultless in every respect save one — over the slot 
in the foreign-mission box there hung a huge cob- 
web. 

When shall we learn the lesson? Only as we 
put our money to the exchangers will it grow. 
Only as we give shall we receive. Christ never 
promised his church it would prosper, he never 
promised to abide with it, except as it gave itself 
to the world. 



Ubc tsiission ot tbe Cburcb [103] 

Christ will abide with his church. It will grow 
and expand until the peoples of every nation find 
shelter within its arms. Burdens will be lifted, 
sin will be destroyed, peace and salvation will 
be known throughout the earth. Christ will 
reign. How ashamed shall we be if his kingdom 
comes and we have had no part in it ! 



DM 



Gbe Mope of tbe Cburcb 




VII 



OR nineteen hundred years we have 
held aloof from the world. We have 
asked the world to come to us that we 
might preach to it the gospel. For nineteen hun- 
dred years we have demanded that they who 
preach the gospel should be men separated from 
the world and the things of the world. To-day 
we are face to face with the one stupendous, 
heart-breaking, soul-crushing fact that we have 
failed. The church and the world cry aloud for 
a new evangelism. The message is eternal. Fun- 
damentally it is always the same, but the empha- 
sis changes from age to age. The present age is 
humanitarian in interest. Never before was it so 
easy to lead men into every philanthropic work; 
perhaps never before has it been harder to lead 
men into vital relation to God and into specific 
work for him and his church. The supreme need 
to-day is not for a new message, but for a new 
method of evangelism. The stereotyped church 
and its methods were never more ineffective than 

[107] 



[iq8] TKabat of tbe Cburcb! 

to-day. It is a cruel charge to say that the fault 
all belongs to the church. It is an ignorant charge 
to say that the church is careless or indifferent. 
There has never been a time in history when the 
church was so tremendously in earnest. There 
has never been a time when the church was bowed 
so low in anguish and tears, realizing her ineffi- 
ciency. There has never been a time when so 
many earnest workers were groping in the dark- 
ness and crying for the light Never were there 
so many earnest men who were willing to give of 
their substance, their time, and their prayers that 
the gospel should be proclaimed and the world 
should be saved, but the new evangelism calls not 
for substance but for life ; not for prayer but for 
practice. Too long the church has called the 
world to come into it and hear it preach ; now we 
must hear the words of the Master to the church, 
" Go ye into the world and preach." 

The Evangelism of the Past 

fails in the present age. It has been a professional 
evangelism. Not that it has been done solely by 
professional evangelists, but that the whole church 
has done its work in a professional way. It has 



Zhc Mope ot tbe Cbutcb [109] 

built a wall between the church and the world over 
which the voice of the church is not heard. The 
church of to-day is out of touch with the world. 
The wealthy classes despise the church and its 
message. The poor classes hate the church and 
its interest. The world imbued with the spirit of 
selfish interest, the people mad in the worship of 
Mammon and Mirth, care not for the church. 
They suspect its motives. They will not believe 
that the church desires only to help them; they 
believe the church wants them to help it. The 
average man of the world looks upon the pastor as 
a grafter and believes that his supreme interest 
is in his salary. 

The churches preach as pure a gospel as in 
other days, but they preach in vain. The people do 
not hear. They do not attend the services of the 
church. It is not a mere matter of indifference or 
thoughtlessness. Any one who goes among the 
people in the name of the church will soon learn 
that the people have their minds made up that they 
will not attend the services of the church. They 
believe they are conferring a great favor upon an 
indefinite somebody called " the church " if they 
permit their children to attend the Sunday-school. 

It is useless to say that the people will at- 



[no] WLbat of tbe Cburcb? 

tend the church if the pastor and his helpers call 
in the homes. They will not The great ma- 
jority of the people privately resent the call of 
the pastor or of any church worker in the home 
as a personal intrusion. They will not believe 
that the caller is disinterested. They are so im- 
bued with the spirit of the age that they cannot 
conceive of a man spending his time and wearing 
out his life in a cause without motives of personal 
gain. They will not believe that the pastor's de- 
sire for increased congregations is not primarily 
a desire for enlarged collections. They think of 
the church caller just as the man who is not inter- 
ested in life insurance thinks of the insurance 
agent. The agent may declare that he cares noth- 
ing for commissions, he is interested only in the 
welfare of the man and his family. The man 
makes no reply, but he knows the agent lies. Ac- 
customed to this sort of thing, the average man 
or woman of the world considers the presence and 
the words of the professional church caller in 
the same way. 

It is needless to say that since the people will 
not come to the church the church must go to the 
people ; the church must carry the gospel into the 
open air; the preachers must go into the shops, 



XTbe Mope ot tbe Cburcb [m] 

and upon the streets, and into the parks; the 
church must leave its building and go into the 
tent ; the church must go anywhere that it can get 
a hearing. Ah, if it could only get a hearing by 
going! But it cannot. All these methods help, 
they reach a few that have been unreached be- 
fore; they increase the efficiency of the church; 
but they do not reach the people. The evangel- 
ism is still professional; it is still in the name of 
the church, and it is despised. It may be true 
that in the shop and on the street religion was 
never desired more; it is surely true that the 
church was never desired less. 

The churches, realizing their inefficiency, are 
making frantic efforts to overcome it. They are 
uniting in greater evangelistic campaigns, they 
are raising more money, building and equipping 
better houses for worship, making their services 
more popular, revising their theology, crying 
long and loud for more and better pastors. Some 
tell us the church is inefficient because the best 
men will not enter the ministry. The young men 
tell us the pastorate does not appeal to them be- 
cause the church is inefficient. The average 
church that fails in its work begins to look for a., 
stronger pastor. If only they could pay enough 



[n2] Mbat of tbe Cburcb? 

money to secure a man who would do the work 
for the church and win the world unto it! The 
new man comes, and the world, if it pays any at- 
tention at all, looks on but to laugh. 

There are other churches which have the better 
vision, and are trying to do the work and to win 
the world under the pastor's direction, instead of 
expecting the pastor to do it under their direc- 
tion — churches in which every member sets his 
own ideals of life and service as high as the ideals 
he sets for his pastor. These churches are the 
most successful. But even these fall far short 
of the longed-for results. Their work is still a 
professional work, a work done in the church, by 
the church, and in the name of the church. The 
world remains indifferent or antagonistic. 

The evangelism of the past has made a distinc- 
tion between sacred and secular work. It has 
made a man's religion a thing added on to his 
life instead of making it the life itself. It has 
made all religious activity something to be en- 
tered into after the day's work is done. We let 
men go on and do their work and live their lives, 
and then we beseech them to take religion on as an 
extra. We let men and women fill their minds 
with anti-religious thought and teaching from 



Ubc Hope ot tbe Cburcb [113] 

the newspapers and magazines and popular 
books all week, and then strive in vain to induce 
them to come to the church to be taught and in- 
spired on Sunday. We let the children be taught 
in godless schools, and for the most part by god- 
less teachers, all week, and then wonder why we 
cannot overcome it all by fifteen minutes' teaching 
each week in the Sunday-school. We have urged 
our young men and women to devote their lives 
to Christian work in a professional way in the 
church. They have considered and refused, and 
have devoted their lives to secular work with a 
little Christian activity added on the side in spare 
moments. We have tried hard. We have done 
our best with the old methods. The church is as 
successful as it has ever been, but it has never 
succeeded. We cannot say that Christianity has 
failed, for Christianity has never been tried. 
The old evangelism has done well in the past, but 
to-day it is helpless. Not that men are not being 
saved perhaps as fast as ever before, but that the 
present methods are not reaching the people. The 
people's minds are filled with other things, and 
they are not interested. 

What the future of the organized church is to 
be cannot be determined now. It is moving to- 
il 



[in] TKflbat of tbe Cbutcb? 

<mmmsmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm m i n i \mmmmamammmmmmmmBmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm 

ward unity and strength. But the call of the age 
is for a new method, a non-professional evangel- 
ism, 



The Evangelism of the Future. 

The world is going to be saved, but it will 
never be saved by the professional preachers. It 
will never be saved by the pastors and evangelists 
— at least this age will not be so saved. It will 
not be saved by the personal work of laymen 
done at odd times. It will not be saved by the 
church as an institution working in a professional 
way. It will be saved when the people of the 
church make it their supreme business in life to 
save it. It will be saved when men and women 
no longer quit their business in order to preach, 
but when men and women go into business in 
order to preach. It will be saved when we cease 
to distinguish between sacred and secular work, 
and realize that all our work is sacred and has 
been given to us as an opportunity for religious 
service. It will be saved when the church ceases 
to say to a few of its young men, " Come into 
me and preach/ ' and says to all its young people 
in the words of the Master, " Go into the world 



TEbe Mope of tbe Cbutcb [115] 

and preach." The call of the age is the call for 
young men and women to invest, not their money, 
not a part of their time, but to invest their lives 
for God and for righteousness, and for the procla- 
mation of the gospel of Jesus Christ in a non-pro- 
fessional way. This is the new evangelism for 
which I plead; the evangelism that shall come; 
the evangelism that shall win in the present age ; 
the evangelism that shall unite the church and 
the world, not by losing the church but by saving 
the world. 

It is useless for the church to struggle against 
all the forces that are making and molding the 
thought and the lives of men. The church 
through its young people, divinely called and in- 
spired for the work, must enter into these forces, 
master them, mold them, and wield them for the 
transformation of the world. The thought and 
character of our boys and girls are determined 
by the influence and teaching of the public schools. 
I plead for an evangelism that will enlist the 
young men and women of our churches to conse- 
crate their lives to teaching, in the public schools, 
in just the same manner that we now expect a 
young man to consecrate his life to preaching, not 
for the purpose of making a living but for the 



[n6] Wbat ot tbe Cburcb? 

purpose of making a life; not to find in teaching 
the purpose and end of effort, but as men and 
women, called of God, to teach for the purpose 
and the opportunity of inculcating in the minds 
of the rising generation the principles and char- 
acter of Jesus Christ. The thought and char- 
acter of our young people are determined by the 
teaching and the influence of our colleges and uni- 
versities. It is futile to oppose them. Into our 
Christian colleges we gather a part of our own in 
an effort to keep them, but the great mass of our 
young people go on untouched. I plead for an 
army of young men and women from our 
churches to give themselves and fit themselves 
for all the chairs of instruction in the colleges and 
universities of our land, in just the same spirit 
and for the same purpose in which and for which 
we now demand that some of our young men shall 
fit themselves for the ministry. The teaching in 
this country ought to be done by Christian men 
and women, and the Christian youth of our 
churches must hear the call of the Master to them, 
" Go ye into this part of the world and preach 
the gospel." Suppose you can make more money 
doing something else ? What would you think of 
a preacher who hesitated for such a reason? In 



Ube Mope of tbe Cbutcb [117] 

the words of the Master we are all called to 
preach. 

More even than by the schools the thought and 
character of the people are being molded to-day 
by the daily press, by magazines, and current 
popular books. One editorial in a daily paper of 
a large city on Monday morning will reach and 
influence more people than all the sermons 
preached in all the churches in that city on Sun- 
day. The sermons come but once a week; the 
paper comes into the home and sits by the fireside 
and proclaims its message of good or evil every 
day in the week. Only a small proportion of the 
people hear sermons; every intelligent person 
reads the papers and the magazines. Only a small 
proportion of the people read the Bible once a 
month ; everybody reads the current books. The 
spirit that breathes in modern literature molds 
the life of the people. " According to their 
pasture so were they filled " is as true to-day as 
it ever was. While the preacher speaks to a hand- 
ful of people and longs for the ears of the multi- 
tude, the crowds are at home engrossed in the 
perusal of the modern monstrosity called the Sun- 
day edition. It is useless to combat these evils. 
When Rome could no longer fight back the bar- 



[ii8] Mbat of tbe Cbntcbt 

barians she quietly assimilated them and made 
them Romans. The new evangelism calls for 
Christian young men and women to enter into 
journalism, to excel in it, to write the editorials 
in the daily press, to fill the columns of the maga- 
zines, to write books that will become the best 
sellers, not for the purpose of making fortune or 
fame — let them come if they will, but for the same 
purpose that we now ask a young man to enter 
the ministry. I would rather write one book like 
" Black Rock" or the "Blue Flower" than 
preach a thousand sermons. 

When young men and women hear the words 
of the Master and go into the world of literature 
to preach, the day of the new evangelism will 
have dawned. It is needless to multiply illustra- 
tions in professional life. The new evangelism 
calls for young men and women to become phy- 
sicians in the same spirit and for the same pur- 
pose that sends the medical missionary to the for- 
eign field; for young men to enter into law and 
politics for the one supreme purpose of establish- 
ing justice and equity between man and man, and 
pointing all to the great Lawgiver and Ruler of 
men ; for men and women to become social lead- 
ers for the one supreme purpose of leading social 



Ube Mope ot tbe Cbutcb [119] 

life in their own community into the purity of the 
ideal life as it is found in Christ. The new evan- 
gelism calls for young men and women to become 
home-builders, in order that we may have homes 
in which the family altar abides and the young are 
taught to reverence and to follow the Saviour. 
There is not a department of work or life into 
which the new evangelism does not call us to 
enter. 

It calls every Christian young man or woman 
to choose his or her lifework according to but one 
principle, " Go into the world and preach/' or, 
What will give to me the greatest opportunity of 
preaching the gospel of salvation from sin 
through Jesus Christ to the greatest number of 
people ? Ideals of money, and fame, and worldly 
success have no place in the new evangelism. It 
calls for the investment of the whole life without 
reserve, for the proclamation of the gospel and 
all that the gospel implies in whatever sphere may 
be chosen. 

No less loudly does the new evangelism call 
for the enlistment of the man who works with his 
hands and for the enlistment of the woman 
whose influence is confined to her own home and 
community. When the disciples asked, " Lord, 



[i2p] KUbat of tbe (TEmtcb? 

dost thou now restore the kingdom of Israel ? " 
his answer was, " My kingdom shall be estab- 
lished by your witnessing. Go into the world and 
preach/' The most effective evangelism is the 
witnessing of each disciple among his own per- 
sonal friends concerning the things that he him- 
self knows of Christ Truth spreads horizontally, 
it seldom goes up or down. Men are influenced 
by others of their own class. Some day the labor- 
ing men will be saved, but not by the preachers ; 
they will be saved one at a time, each by the man 
who works beside him, wearing the same clothes 
and using the same tools and conversing in the 
same language. The business man does not care 
what Christ has been to the minister, he wants 
to know what Christ has done for the man in the 
next office, and no one can tell him but that 
Christian man. The young man does not care 
what Christ means to his sister nor to his pastor, 
he wants to know what Christ means to the man 
who works beside him in the shop, or who sits 
beside him in the school, or who plays beside him 
on the team, and no one can tell him but that 
young man. The mother in the home is but little 
interested in what Christ does for the church 
" caller," she wishes to know how Christ helps the 



TEbe Mope of tbe Cburcb [121] 

mother next door in the rearing of her children 
and the care of her house. 

I talked with a woman one day, a young wife, 
who was in great trouble. God's voice was speak- 
ing in her heart and she was refusing to obey, be- 
cause if she did she knew she would have to go 
back to that which she had determined to leave 
forever. I tried to tell her what Christ would do 
for one at such a time, how he would strengthen 
her and help her to triumph if she would be true 
to herself and to him, tried to show her what 
Christ would do for her in her own life if she 
would only let him. She listened for a while, 
and then she said : " Sir, you don't know any- 
thing about it Christ may do all that for you. 
You are a man. You are a minister. Your life 
is all different. You have a happy home, a beau- 
tiful wife and a sweet babe, you have never had 
any trouble like this; you don't know anything 
about it." I tried to tell her what Christ had 
been to me in the hour of darkness, and sorrow, 
and disappointment, and despair. But she was 
not interested. She did not care what Christ had 
been to a man and a minister, she wanted to 
know what Christ could do for a broken- 
hearted wife, whose life had been empty and 



["*] Wbat ot tbe Cbutcb? 

spoiled, if she would be brave enough to do her 
duty no matter what it cost; brave enough to re- 
sist the temptation no matter how alluring. If 
only a woman who knew Christ, a wife who had 
walked through the same dark valley, had sat in 
my place and told her the things that she knew 
concerning Christ ! What a difference ! 

Jesus' last words to his church were, " Go into 
the world and preach." We have never obeyed 
him. We have been talking about the minister's 
call to preach and have forgotten that every man 
who works in the office or the shop or on the 
street, every woman who works in the home or in 
the school or in the club is called to preach just 
as truly as the man who works in the study and 
in the pulpit. The only difference is one of 
method. There is no difference in the sacredness 
of the calling, and the difference in opportunity in 
the present age seems to be in favor of the man 
who goes into the world to preach rather than 
the man who goes into the church to preach. 

The call of the age is for a new crusade, not 
to wrest the holy sepulcher from the unholy Turk, 
but to wrest the forces that mold the thought and 
the characters of men from the hands of godless 
men, that they may be controlled by God-fearing, 



Ube Mope of tbe Cburcb [123] 

Christ-loving, soul-saving men and women. This 
call ought to move the youth of the church to-day 
as no call has for centuries. It ought to send us 
into the world with a vision and an enthusiasm 
that would sweep all before us, that will sweep 
the world to God and into his church. 

The old evangelism to-day is beating the air. 
The new evangelism will fight the world with its 
own weapons and win. The old evangelism 
stands outside the world and dashes itself in 
vain against an unbroken wall of indifference. 
The new evangelism will go into the world, win 
its sympathy, its confidence, and lead it into the 
truth. It will come when the church hears the 
call of the age, the call of the Master in every age : 
" Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel 
to the whole creation." 



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